Thought 79
Talents
What are you talents? Can you use them for God?
My Story
Growing up I have always been told that I am a leader. I’m not trying to be prideful, but over and over it has proven itself to be a truth by confirming itself in my life over and over again as I have led groups of young men, organized an event or led a Bible study. The difficulty is how to use my talents and yet reflect Christ. For me, the question has sometimes been, should I accept a leadership opportunity at my local church or should I lead this thing over here that I feel called to start? The answer to that question has been different each time it arose, sometimes I led both something at my church and something aside from my church, and at other times, I only led in my church or only in another area. The point is, to use one talent for the glory of Christ, leadership for example, I must be willing to follow the Lord’s plans, and I must follow His lead to effectively use it.
In leadership, there have been times that I have had to show ‘tough love’ so that a person can grow and learn. But more often than that, I have had to lead by example in order to have people follow me and respect me enough to listen and be teachable. I have learned that leadership is not really meant to be a way to control people, but to teach and impact them and it requires a humble spirit to truly lead by example. As I led in a certain ministry at my church for about 2 years I constantly had to watch myself, if I presented the wrong example or allowed sin to reign in my life (while away from the ministry) then those that I led were spiritually impacted. It was during those years that I learned why the James warns us that not many should be teachers, because they will receive a greater judgment from the Lord (James 3:5). As a teacher, a leader, I had a spiritual impact over who I was leading, and if I had yielded to the temptation to burst out at anger at home or snap in annoyance at my siblings, guess what I saw among those that I ministered to? That’s right anger and snapping—I got what I sowed. Often we do not keep that in mind when we think of leadership.
Now, not everyone is a “natural born leader,” but as my pastor describes it (I’m paraphrasing) this way: “Some people are just naturally born a leader, others aren’t. But on a scale from one to ten what can you achieve. If your best is a six or seven, then great. Be the best you can be in what God gives you to do.” Not everyone will be a leader, but if you are called to be will you be one that represents Christ; and if you are not one, will you support those over you with your prayers, attention, and respect?
When we talk about using the gifts and talents that God has given us, we must keep in mind that we do not work for God. That statement – working for God – suggests that God does not have all of you, just a part of you. We do not clock in and out working a job for God, or at least we should not. Instead, we are to serve God all the time. As we do this, we become slaves to Christ; this happens because we love Him so much that we surrender our selfish rights and become His, completely. However, one must understand that God has given mankind a free will: we have the choice to obey or disobey, sin or live righteously, to surrender or to rebel, to clock in or continually be on call.
God has equipped you with certain talents and abilities that nobody else can use like you can, in the special way that you can. God is amazing! We all have a part in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-30). Some of you are called to be what I am going to call “extreme servants,” the hands and the feet of the body of Christ. Others of you speak and teach the Word as the mouth and voice of the body of Christ. And many others of you are working behind the scenes like our physical organs to take care of the body of Christ’s personal needs. And the list goes on . . . .
Keep the Balance in Mind:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23 NIV
This passage troubles me and should! We can prophesy, cast out demons, and do miracles in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and still not know Him. And if we don’t know Him, we won’t be in Heaven with Him! This is troubling, because many pastors and lay-people who teach and preach and do miraculous things can still miss Heaven—all because they do not personally know Jesus Christ; all they have is good works.
Please remember, that although we can do things for Christ with our talents and should, that is not all that Christianity is. Good works are great and God desires us to obediently follow Him, but the truth is that He does not need human help to accomplish His will; however, He does desire to work through us. Yes, He gives us the privilege of doing good works to honor Him and accomplish His will, but please, please, remember your relationship with Him is the most important thing. Be a Mary first and a Martha second. Jesus wants to know you more than He wants you to do a bunch of stuff or win a bunch of souls even though both those things are important.
Prayer: O Lord, I want to know You! Lord, please help these readers to do great things in obedience to You, but above all let them KNOW You, Father . By our fruit we are known, Lord, and by our works will we be judged. Father, I ask that we will all know You in a personal way, that we will have a personal, intimate relationship with You. We do not want to miss Heaven because we were too busy doing things for You that we did not live Your salvation and get to know Jesus for ourselves. Amen
Talents
What are you talents? Can you use them for God?
My Story
Growing up I have always been told that I am a leader. I’m not trying to be prideful, but over and over it has proven itself to be a truth by confirming itself in my life over and over again as I have led groups of young men, organized an event or led a Bible study. The difficulty is how to use my talents and yet reflect Christ. For me, the question has sometimes been, should I accept a leadership opportunity at my local church or should I lead this thing over here that I feel called to start? The answer to that question has been different each time it arose, sometimes I led both something at my church and something aside from my church, and at other times, I only led in my church or only in another area. The point is, to use one talent for the glory of Christ, leadership for example, I must be willing to follow the Lord’s plans, and I must follow His lead to effectively use it.
In leadership, there have been times that I have had to show ‘tough love’ so that a person can grow and learn. But more often than that, I have had to lead by example in order to have people follow me and respect me enough to listen and be teachable. I have learned that leadership is not really meant to be a way to control people, but to teach and impact them and it requires a humble spirit to truly lead by example. As I led in a certain ministry at my church for about 2 years I constantly had to watch myself, if I presented the wrong example or allowed sin to reign in my life (while away from the ministry) then those that I led were spiritually impacted. It was during those years that I learned why the James warns us that not many should be teachers, because they will receive a greater judgment from the Lord (James 3:5). As a teacher, a leader, I had a spiritual impact over who I was leading, and if I had yielded to the temptation to burst out at anger at home or snap in annoyance at my siblings, guess what I saw among those that I ministered to? That’s right anger and snapping—I got what I sowed. Often we do not keep that in mind when we think of leadership.
Now, not everyone is a “natural born leader,” but as my pastor describes it (I’m paraphrasing) this way: “Some people are just naturally born a leader, others aren’t. But on a scale from one to ten what can you achieve. If your best is a six or seven, then great. Be the best you can be in what God gives you to do.” Not everyone will be a leader, but if you are called to be will you be one that represents Christ; and if you are not one, will you support those over you with your prayers, attention, and respect?
When we talk about using the gifts and talents that God has given us, we must keep in mind that we do not work for God. That statement – working for God – suggests that God does not have all of you, just a part of you. We do not clock in and out working a job for God, or at least we should not. Instead, we are to serve God all the time. As we do this, we become slaves to Christ; this happens because we love Him so much that we surrender our selfish rights and become His, completely. However, one must understand that God has given mankind a free will: we have the choice to obey or disobey, sin or live righteously, to surrender or to rebel, to clock in or continually be on call.
God has equipped you with certain talents and abilities that nobody else can use like you can, in the special way that you can. God is amazing! We all have a part in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-30). Some of you are called to be what I am going to call “extreme servants,” the hands and the feet of the body of Christ. Others of you speak and teach the Word as the mouth and voice of the body of Christ. And many others of you are working behind the scenes like our physical organs to take care of the body of Christ’s personal needs. And the list goes on . . . .
Keep the Balance in Mind:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23 NIV
This passage troubles me and should! We can prophesy, cast out demons, and do miracles in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and still not know Him. And if we don’t know Him, we won’t be in Heaven with Him! This is troubling, because many pastors and lay-people who teach and preach and do miraculous things can still miss Heaven—all because they do not personally know Jesus Christ; all they have is good works.
Please remember, that although we can do things for Christ with our talents and should, that is not all that Christianity is. Good works are great and God desires us to obediently follow Him, but the truth is that He does not need human help to accomplish His will; however, He does desire to work through us. Yes, He gives us the privilege of doing good works to honor Him and accomplish His will, but please, please, remember your relationship with Him is the most important thing. Be a Mary first and a Martha second. Jesus wants to know you more than He wants you to do a bunch of stuff or win a bunch of souls even though both those things are important.
Prayer: O Lord, I want to know You! Lord, please help these readers to do great things in obedience to You, but above all let them KNOW You, Father . By our fruit we are known, Lord, and by our works will we be judged. Father, I ask that we will all know You in a personal way, that we will have a personal, intimate relationship with You. We do not want to miss Heaven because we were too busy doing things for You that we did not live Your salvation and get to know Jesus for ourselves. Amen
